There’s nothing better in the winter than a dark, malty beer. And this year, I’ve been on a bit of a lager kick. Furthermore, I keep reading about the amazing Schwarzbiers that others are making; so I decided to try my hand at it!
It might have been the perfection of tapping the keg during a winter storm, but this beer turned out great – one of my best in recent times. Check out the video for the full story!
What Can You Expect From This Beer?
This recipe produces a beer that is exactly what a Schwarzbier should be.
It is pitch dark in color, yet not milky or opaque – as a dark lager should be.
Flavor-wise, it is rich and malty, with a characteristic roasty note. However, thanks to the special Blackprinz dark malt, the roasty flavor is incredibly smooth with no signs of astringency.
You can look for flavor notes of chocolate and coffee – but not at all in a sugary, sweet way. At a final gravity of 1.008, the beer is dry. Think of the chocolate notes you’d get in certain dark black coffees, rather than an actual milk chocolate flavor.
It’s a well-balanced beer, too. While very malt-forward, the spicy Saaz hops accentuate the roasty character.
All in all, a great beer. I would strongly suggest that you brew a batch yourself this winter.
4.2%
ABV
35
IBUs
Roasty, malt-forward character
Ingredients
You will need the following ingredients to brew this beer. I have added direct links to the items on MoreBeer.
Note that the amounts listed are for a 5 gallon batch of beer. Please adjust accordingly.
The Grain Bill
| Amount | Ingredient |
|---|---|
| 6lb | Munich Dark Malt |
| 2lb | Cookie Malt |
| 12oz | Chocolate Wheat Malt |
| 8oz | Blackprinz Malt |
The grain bill centers around the specialty Blackprinz malt. This is a special dehusked roasted malt that provides intense black color and roasty flavor without much, if any, astringency.
An alternative to Blackprinz is Carafa III. Carafa III is slightly different than Blackprinz, and will create a slightly different result, but it will still produce the same roasty character without astringency.
Hop Additions
This is not a hop-forward style, but I am a bit of a hophead. I prefer dry beers with at least some hop character. I think 35 IBUs from the German Saaz hop balances very well against the intense roastiness of the malt.
Additionally, the spicy flavor that Saaz brings does a good job of accentuating that roastiness.
The Yeast
| Amount | Ingredient |
|---|---|
| 1 packet | Lutra Kveik |
Kveik is a bit of a cheat code for homebrewers, and Lutra even moreso!
While not technically a lager yeast, Lutra kveik gets about 80% of the results with about 20% of the effort. It produces an amazingly lager-esque beer without the need for temperature control or long lagering times.
You could alternatively brew with an actual German lager yeast or pressure ferment this beer, and it would produce a result that is even more like a lager (because it’d be a real lager!).
Water Chemistry (optional)
| 50ppm | Ca2+ |
| 15ppm | Mg2+ |
| 33ppm | Na+ |
| 39pm | SO42- |
| 145ppm | HCO3– |
This profile can be achieved using distilled water and the following water salts:
| Amount | Salt |
|---|---|
| 1.4g | Gypsum |
| 1.3g | Calcium Chloride |
| 1.4g | Epsom |
Add these salts directly to the water prior to the mash.
This water profile is recommended by the Brewfather app. It is the standard “black dry” water profile. The purpose of this profile is to balance the sulfates and the chlorides in order to showcase the roasted malt character and keep the beer dry.
Water chemistry is typically an optional step, but it is one that will often improve the quality of your beer. It’s an extra step that gives you even more control on the flavor. However, even I often forgo water chemistry since I live on a well and my tap water is good.
The rule of thumb is: if your water tastes good, then the beer will taste good.
How to Brew a Schwarzbier
Now that you have all of your ingredients, it’s time to brew the beer!
- Single-Step Mash: 60 min at 149°F
- The Boil: 60 min boil.
- Fermentation: Keep at room temperature. Can be done in as little as 2 days.
You can use very basic equipment with an inexpensive BIAB setup to brew this beer.
The Mash
This recipe calls for a single-step mash at 149°F for 60 minutes.
Add all of your grain to the mash at once. Mash the entire grist for the full 30 minutes.
If you don’t have a temperature controller capable of keeping your wort precisely at 149°F for the entire duration, you may instead opt to mash at 155°F. This will help to ensure that your wort does not drop below 148°F and out of the range of enzyme activity.
The Boil
This recipe calls for a 60 minute boil, with a bittering hop addition of 2oz Saaz at the 60-minute mark and a flavoring hop addition of 1oz Saaz at the 20-minute mark.
When the mash is complete, crank your heat to max to bring your wort to an aggressive, rolling boil.
Once your wort has reached the boiling point (and only then!), it is time to add your first 60-minute hop addition of 2oz Saaz.
Let the wort boil for a further 40 minutes, and, with 20 minutes left in the boil, add your final hop addition of 1oz Saaz.
Boil the wort for another 20 minutes to complete this step.
Chill the Wort
After boiling, chill the wort to 90°F or lower as quickly as possible.
You must bring the temperature of the wort down from boiling to a safe range to pitch the yeast. Lutra kveik is a very hardy yeast and can withstand high temperatures, sometimes even above 100°F!
Anything in the 90s °F is fair game with this yeast.
The faster you can chill the wort, the better.
Pitch the Yeast
Pitch the full packet of Lutra Kveik dry yeast into the wort.
First, pour your wort from the brew kettle into your fermenting vessel and aerate it. You can knock out both of these things in one step by dumping the wort vigorously, sloshing it as much as possible as it goes into the fermenter.
Then, you can pitch your dry yeast into the wort. It is often advised that you rehydrate your dry yeast first; however, I rarely do. I pitch the dry yeast straight from the packet into the wort, and I have yet to see any issues with doing so.
Fermentation
Keep your fermenter in a dark room, at room temperature, until the yeast is finished fermenting.
To determine when your yest has finished fermentation, and when the batch is ready for packaging, refer to this previous article I wrote on the subject.
Lutra kveik is a hardy yeast, and will ferment cleanly, even at room temperature – it makes it really easy to manage fermentation, since it doesn’t need anything special!
Packaging
When fermentation is complete, bottle or keg your batch. Give it time to carbonate, then enjoy!
How to bottle carbonate or keg a beer is outside of the scope of this article.
However, I’ll tell you: I prefer to keg my beers. It makes it so much easier!
Fermentation can be done as quickly as 2 days with kveik yeast – however, you cannot rely on a given timeframe! Use gravity readings to be sure that your batch is done.
I gave mine an extra couple of weeks before kegging it, and I believe it was all the better for it.
Conclusion
This Schwarzbier recipe will produce an amazing beer, perfect for wintertime.
I couldn’t have chosen a better time to brew it, either. As I showed in the video – it snowed in the south for the first time in years just as I tapped the keg!
It couldn’t have been better.
I hope you enjoy this wintery beer just as much as I did!
